Belize Statutory interest on judgment debts
Belize Statutory interest on judgment debts is 6 percent, in force since 15 Nov 2022. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Belize's statutory rate on judgment debts: six per centum per annum under section 176 of the Senior Courts Act, 2022, which repealed and replaced the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, Chap. 91. Pre-judgment interest is separate and discretionary.
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| Current value | 6 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2022-11-15 |
| Official source | Senior Courts Act, 2022 (Act No. 27 of 2022, Belize), s. 176: 'Every judgment debt shall carry interest at the rate of six per centum per annum from the time of entering up the judgment until the same is satisfied, and such interest may be levied under a writ of execution on such judgment' — gazetted 15 November 2022; s. 245(1) repeals the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Chap. 91), whose s. 167 carried the identical six per centum wording |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
SCOPE — POST-JUDGMENT only. The 6% runs automatically on every judgment debt from the time judgment is entered up until it is satisfied, and is enforceable by writ of execution. It is not a late-payment rate: Belize gives an unpaid supplier no statutory default interest on an overdue invoice outside contract or a court order. FIXED, NOT INDEXED — no reference rate, no periodic setter, no Ministerial variation power in the section; changing it takes an Act. CITE THE RIGHT STATUTE: the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, Chap. 91 was REPEALED by s. 245(1) of the Senior Courts Act, 2022, which also renamed the Supreme Court as the High Court of Justice within the new Senior Courts (Court of Appeal plus High Court, following the Belize Constitution amendment of 2022). Citations to 'Cap. 91 s. 167' are stale even though the rate is unchanged — the current provision is s. 176 of the Senior Courts Act. Accrued rights and pending proceedings under the repealed Acts are preserved (s. 245(2)-(3)), and subsidiary rules made under them continue in force so far as not inconsistent (s. 245(4)). LAND-ACQUISITION CARVE-OUT — THE ONE REAL TRAP: where the judgment debt relates to the ACQUISITION OF LAND, s. 176's proviso displaces the 6% with 'the rate of interest, as published by the Central Bank of Belize, on Treasury Bills issued pursuant to the Treasury Bills Act, with a maturity period of not more than three months as at the date of acquisition' — a market rate fixed by reference to the acquisition date, not 6%. The same proviso applies to pre-judgment interest in land-acquisition cases under s. 175. PRE-JUDGMENT INTEREST is otherwise DISCRETIONARY: under s. 175(1) the Court may, if it thinks fit, include interest 'at such rate as it thinks fit' on all or part of the debt or damages for all or part of the period between accrual of the cause of action and judgment, subject to the standard three carve-outs — no interest upon interest, no application where interest is payable as of right by agreement or otherwise, and no effect on damages for dishonour of a bill of exchange. No civil/commercial split; simple interest (the section provides for no compounding).
Get it programmatically
curl https://latamref.dev/v1/bz/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://latamref.dev/v1/bz/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
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The same figure elsewhere: Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · all 22